Month: April 2020

Fringe Myrtles Meeting Report

The Fringe Myrtles is a new haiku group in Melbourne which had its most recent meeting online due to the social distancing regulations associated with the Coronavirus. The theme of the meeting was to write haiku about the impact of Covid-19. And seeing as it was the first Zoom meeting for so many of us, it went as well as could be expected!

Group member Myron Lysenko commented, “It was wonderful to hear and see everybody read out their haiku. So many of our haiku had a focus on what is missing now.” All of the haiku shared with the group touched on this sense of loss – of what life was like before the virus. One member, Robbie Cairns, submitted a haibun which captured the mood of the current circumstances.

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Vale Stuart Quine, 1962-2020

Sad news has been received that Stuart Quine, the English haiku poet, died on March 24 from the Covid-19 virus. A former associate editor of Presence haiku journal (he rejoined for a time after the unexpected death of his friend Martin Lucas), Stuart had one of his poems added to the Katikati Haiku Pathway collection last year and kindly agreed to having the one-liner engraved as three lines to fit the boulder. Stuart and Martin attended the 2009 Haiku Pacific Rim conference in Terrigal, NSW, Australia. Continue reading “Vale Stuart Quine, 1962-2020”

Bombora Autumn Virtual Meeting

What a unique but sad time to be writing a report for the Bombora Haiku Group. My husband and I began to self-isolate on March 11th, and my mind began working on ways to lead our group online. I think Covid-19 will show many of us just how resilient and inventive we can be. With advice from the younger generation, I downloaded the app, Zoom, and four of us held a short shaky meeting on Tuesday March 31st . We agreed to weekly catch up meetings each Tuesday thereafter. If all goes well, there will be six or seven of us for the next meeting. Also, we may be able to include Ulla currently in Spain by planning an evening meeting.

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The Awakened One – submission invitation

The editors are looking for contemporary haiku, published or unpublished, which are Buddha-themed, haiku which may or may not mention the Buddha specifically, but which are infused with the spirit of Buddhism, Zen Buddhism or any other school of Buddhism such as Pure Land Buddhism, Celtic Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism and so on. The meditative spirit is universal and Buddhist self-effacement and egolessness can be found in other traditions as well, such as Daoist, Christian, Sufi etc. Haiku that are influenced by Buddhist-like teachings and practices will also be considered. Maximum of 6 haiku to be submitted to the editors before Buddha’s birthday, May 8th and a brief biography, not more than 200 words. English translations required of haiku submitted in languages other than English. Please kindly share the Call for Submissions with like-minded haijin.

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